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The York University professor recently began driving the Highway 407 toll road to take his daughter to gymnastics lessons in Brampton.

“That highway’s always full. I don’t understand where the idea comes from that Torontonians are not willing to pay fees for these superstructures,” said the director of York’s City Institute.

When people are willing to pay significant sums for time-saving communications devices, it stands to reason they’ll pay for a faster, better commute, said Keil, who hosted a recent transit summit at York.

The question is, whether the province and municipalities have the courage to deliver the bill.

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As a June deadline looms for Metrolinx to release its recommendations for taxes and fees to pay for transit expansion, there’s growing concern that the deficit-ridden, minority Liberal government won’t act.

Rather than raising funds for transit, the Metrolinx investment strategy appears more likely to kick off another round of “mature conversation” on how that’s to be done.

Toronto Board of Trade chief executive officer Carol Wilding believes the province deserves credit for the $10 billion it has committed to transit in the Toronto area. But there are concerns that it will stall on the investment strategy.

“The signals in terms of potential stalling are there. We see them,” said Wilding, who believes Queen’s Park should build on the momentum of its investment in new bus rapid transit in York Region and four LRT lines in Toronto.

“Why would you turn your back on that? The province has created tremendous public goodwill through their investments and the public has become increasingly sophisticated in their understanding. It’s critical that June 2013 deadline is met and that the province continues to press leadership in moving forward with the financing strategy,” she said.

The business group is among those stepping up the public discussion this fall about the need for transit financing tools. It will launch its own multi- media campaign in a few weeks.

Meantime, it is also working with CivicAction, another group of city leaders, to broaden the discussion of transit taxes and the brewing congestion crisis.

The financial options for raising the $40 billion the region needs for subways, light rail and bus lines all prescribed in Metrolinx’s 2008 Big Move plan have been widely published, most recently in a staff report before the City of Toronto’s executive committee on Wednesday.

The gas, sales, property and payroll taxes, road tolls, vehicle registration fees, parking levies, development charges and land transfer tax options outlined in that report may be familiar in some circles, the broader public hasn’t necessarily absorbed the information, said CivicAction CEO Mitzie Hunter.

“They haven’t really had a personal connection with the potential of having a better transportation system,” she said.

CivicAction’s campaign will include a website and the enlistment of 40 multi-sector champions who will lead community conversations.

“To really get government to act and prioritize this you have to get residents involved,” said Hunter.

Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig concedes that more consultation is one of the options open to the province and municipalities when the investment strategy is released in June.

Metrolinx has been researching how other countries apply fees and taxes to transit and there’s been discussion with business and other groups, he said.

But, McCuaig agrees with Hunter: “I believe the conversation has largely been focused on the group of individuals and organizations who spend a lot of their time thinking about the urban region. . . . To the family who is just trying to live their life, raise their kids, I’m not sure how they’ve been engaged in a discussion.”

Five years of talking taxes and tolls

May 2007 — Survey of 2,600 Toronto-area CAA members shows two-thirds disapprove of toll roads in general and nearly 60 per cent disagree with taxing busy routes like the Gardiner Expressway or Don Valley Parkway to cut congestion. However, 32 per cent said they would take public transit more often if there were road tolls and 29 per cent said they would carpool more often.

February 2008 — Toronto mayor David Miller’s blue ribbon panel on city finances recommends tolling provincial roads in the GTA to raise $700 million to expand transit

September 2008 — Metrolinx releases its Big Move regional transportation plan, recommending $50 billion in transit improvements over 25 years. The report defers the discussion of how to pay for the congestion fix to June 2013.

June 2011 — Toronto Board of Trade announces it is urging Ontario's campaigning political parties to make transit funding an election priority.

June 2011 — More than half the respondents to an Angus Reid poll for the Toronto Star say they would support a congestion charge into the downtown. Sixty-seven per cent reject a 1 per cent sales tax and 54 per cent oppose highway tolls.

December 2011 — TTC chair and city councillor Karen Stintz tells the Toronto Board of Trade that Metrolinx needs to put politicians back on its board to help hasten taxes and tolls to pay for transit.

February 2012 — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford uses a newspaper op-ed to float the idea of a parking levy to raise $90 million annually toward building subways. His administration later backs away from the idea.

April 2012 -- Sustainability think tank Pembina Institute releases Environics research showing up to 70 per cent of Toronto-area car commuters are prepared to pay taxes or tolls if it eases gridlock.

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